In the past few years, there’s been a welcome surge of efforts—many industry-led—to bring more women into construction careers. The energy is reminiscent of the late 1970s, when government policies brought me into an IBEW apprenticeship.

Still, according to federal 2020 demographic statistics for construction craftworkers, both women (4.0%) and Black Americans (7.0%) are notably far from achieving either a critical mass or representation that reasonably reflects their capabilities and workforce participation.

Our otherwise state-of-the-art industry lags well behind other occupational fields—and even the military.

多样性，公平和包容性不仅仅是口号或一劳永逸的努力。应该将其理解和投资是一个复杂，雄心勃勃的多年项目，始于该行业希望吸引的工人的鲜明自我评估。

Imagine: rather than expecting underrepresented groups to fit into workplaces historically designed to exclude them—or, at best, designed without them—we pushed reset.

想象：根据实际的当前和未来行业需求，劳动力资料，而不是过去（老年人告诉我）的过去 -everything是手工完成的，电钻是异端的。

Imagine:starting todaywe reshaped the industry to one where on Day One, a diverse workforce would find a fair, inclusive workplace ready for success.

Forward Spin

Starting now, we need to :

First, pull together a result-oriented team with a range of skills and perspectives and charge it with planning, oversight, and course correction. The team should reflect the diversity of the country’s—not the industry’s—workforce, and have the support and ear of top labor and management leadership.

Key to include are women who have succeeded in the field and have site-specific expertise, with particular knowledge of landmines that can derail promising careers, and which need removal. Inclusion requires an all-in effort, but also needs direction and accountability.

Second,collect the right data to evaluate progress. Equal hourly pay is a start. Better measures are tracking and comparing annual pay, including overtime, and most telling—good years toward a pension, or other retirement options.

Entry-level numbers, of course, matter, but more significant is whether the capable entrant has advanced into a capable leader five to eight years later. Workforce percentages need to be tracked separately for those at entry, journey, and supervisory levels.

Unless the latter two groups are expanding, it’s a revolving door—not inclusion.

Next,投资于安全支持经度g-term careers for this highly skilled workforce, and to protect the industry’s investment in training.

This means not just PPE, equipment and tools sized to fit, but also on-the-job-training that’s ergonomically sound, not one-size-fits-all, and instructors capable of teaching a diverse workforce. There is no one right way to get most jobs done. Many veteran tradeswomen develop similar injuries from years of doing their jobs like they were taught: incorrectly for their bodies.

Next,sexual harassment, assault and other workplace violence should be recognized as tactics to deprive people of their civil right to employment.

由于肇事者的个人联系或认为较高的工人当前价值，这些行动通常是在免疫力期望的情况下执行的。但是，在承诺包容性的情况下，歧视不仅应视为侵犯受害者权利，而且也破坏了劳动力凝聚力和行业的未来。

法规和后果需要写入合同语言，并在入境时清楚地表明。不管谁参与的人都需要值得信赖的命令链，鼓励举报。

Last, language—verbal and visual—sends a signal. Vestiges of the past that convey good construction careers as “men’s jobs” or as “white men’s jobs” need to be updated.

Terms like “man hours” can be easily replaced. Trade classroom instruction should not include sexist jokes. The company or union’s website should reflect a capable workforce that is diverse at all levels, and the policies that support that.

Health and other benefits and policies should reflect that women are central to the core workforce; that some members will get pregnant; and that all members have caretaking responsibilities.

There’s nothing wrong with inclusion being “under construction” if steady, intentional, full-speed-ahead progress is, in fact, under way.

苏珊·艾森伯格是布兰迪斯的常驻学者University, where she directs itsOn Equal Terms Project.A retired electrician and IBEW member, she is the author of如果需要您，我们会打电话给您：妇女的经历（康奈尔，2018年）.Eisenberg can be reached at seis@brandeis.edu.